Meet the countywide slate of Democrats

The Republicans aren’t the only ones seeking a variety of county seats in the Nov. 7 election. Democrats have their own full ballot from business owners to their own attorneys to a former deputy sheriff in Philadelphia/minister.

County Council

County Democrats are running candidates for each of the available county council seats up for grab and they are Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek.

Third-generation Delaware County resident, Madden was born and raised in Media and is co-founder of NightOwl Technologies, a mobile technology for nightlife activities in various metropolitan locations. He is also an investing partner in StartUp Health, an organization that invests in early-stage health technology companies.

The Haverford resident had been vice president of KPS Capital Partners, an investment firm with $5.5 billion of assets. His campaign said KPS is known for working with management, labor and other stakeholders to assist businesses in trouble.

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Previously, he worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and was a National Merit Scholar at Vanderbilt University.

He is married and shared his reasons for running for the county seat.

“Delaware County has been my family’s home for three generations, it’s where I was raised and where my wife and I choose to raise a family,” he said. “But, the world is changing rapidly and we’re being held back by a local Republican machine stuck in the past – run by elected officials who prioritize lining their own pockets and those of party insiders over what’s best for the future of all its residents. We must end it now.”

Madden said his first priority would be to implement standard ethics reforms and transparency measures.

Then, he would work to create public-private partnerships with world-class colleges and universities to aggressively attract the jobs of the future.

“I’ve spent the last five years helping to launch small businesses in the technology sector, and I will bring that experience to Delco government,” he said.

Brian Zidek was born and raised in southern New Jersey and has lived in Delaware County for almost 17 years.

He is president of Excess Reinsurance, a self-funded medical reinsurance company and is president of Argo Capital Group Ltd.

Zidek began his professional career as a lawyer at Duane Morris LLP, prior to being hired as Vice President and General Council of Excess Reinsurance Underwriters.

He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dickinson College and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, where he was co-founder of the Georgetown Journal on Fighting Poverty.

He also serves as managing director of the Zidek Family Foundation, a private foundation that seeks to better the lives of children.

He and his wife and their three children live in Nether Providence, where he has coached soccer and t-ball teams.

Zidek spoke about why he’s running.

“Forty years of Republican dominance on county council has created a political machine that wastes taxpayer money through corrupt pay-to-play schemes and elected officials lining their pockets,” he said. “It was clear that something had to be done. I couldn’t stand by while (Republican incumbent county councilman) Dave White and the Republican machine enrich themselves with Delco’s taxpayer money. We already pay the highest property tax rates of any county in Southeastern Pennsylvania and so I decided to do something about it.”

Zidek outlined the issues he would prioritize if elected to county council.

“The first thing we must do is eliminate the corruption that wastes our tax dollars,” he said. “We must also increase efficiencies and transparency so Delco has a 21st-century government utilizing the best practices and tools to bring new and better jobs to this county.

“I believe that by eliminating the waste and corruption of the current administration, we can offer real property tax relief to Delco’s citizens,” he said.

Common Pleas Court judge

Kelly Eckel, a commercial litigator and hiring partner at Duane Morris LLP, is running for the Common Pleas Court Judge position.

She has represented clients in a variety of situations from commercial fraud to complex contracts to intellectual property to employment litigation to bankruptcy hearings.

She also was appointed to the American Arbitration Association’s Roster of Neutrals for commercial cases in 2010 and in that capacity, she presides over pre-trial and evidentiary hearings, resolves discovery disputes, issues rulings and awards and resolves disputes between parties.

A daughter of German immigrants, she lived in many places, moving around with her father, a U.S. Army colonel.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where she played varsity water polo and went to Temple Law School, where she was managing editor of the Temple Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honor Society.

During law school, she was a judicial intern to U.S. District Court Judge Harvey Bartle III and after school, she was a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Stanley S. Brotman.

Eckel is married and has two daughters. Her family lives in Upper Providence.

Eckel said judges must be experienced, impartial and independent and capable of applying the law fairly to anyone who enters their court.

“As a judge, I will preside over each case as I have done as an arbitrator for the past 6.5 years,” she said. “I will give all parties the opportunity to present their case full. I will not prejudge a case based on who the parties or their counsel are.”

Register of Wills

Born and raised in Chester, Mary Walk, an alum of the former Notre Dame High School in Moylan, is seeking the county Register of Wills job.

She graduated with honors from Rutgers University and then received her J.D. from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law,

She is an AV-rated attorney and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey courts, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

She is a certified mediator and serves as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Walk is a member of Swarthmore’s borough council as well as its Civil Service Commission. She had previously served on the Swarthmore Zoning Hearing Board for five years, serving as its chair in her final year.

She has lived in the borough for more than two decades with her husband and their three children and she’s served as a Brownie troop leader, a volunteer for A Better Chance Strath Haven and a Swarthmore Democratic Committee member.

“I think it’s time to end one-party rule in Delaware County,” Walk said. “The Register of Wills office needs someone who will make sure that it is run in an efficient manner while always keeping an eye on the finances of the office and being accountable to all the people who reside in the county.”

She said she would work to modernize the office through website updates and would look for ways to save money while providing top notch service.

“I will ensure that the Register of Wills office is run in an open and transparent manner with financial and managerial accountability,” Walk said.

Controller

Joanne Phillips, a resident of Middletown, is a commercial real estate lawyer for Ballard Spahr LLP, who is running for county controller.

She joined Ballard Spahr as an associate following graduation from Widener University’s Delaware Law School.

Then-Gov. Ed Rendell appointed Phillips as Director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Real Estate. There, she oversaw the bureau, which was responsible for state-owned properties and leased space with an annual lease expenditure of about $108 million.

In 2010, she returned to Ballard Spahr.

She took a year of absence from her work to serve as special Aasistant to the Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia for special zoning and business regulation projects.

She is active in the Urban Land Institute in Philadelphia through its Scholarship Council and Women’s Leadership Initiative.

Phillips served on the Delaware County Open Space Task Force from 2000 to 2002 and on the Middletown Township Park and Recreation Committee from 1990 to 1996. She also coached boys’ and girls’ soccer for the Rose Tree Soccer Club for 15 years.

Her husband, Wade Phillips III, grew up in Springfield and although their two children have gone to pursue college educations, she and her husband remain in Middletown and she shared why she’s running for controller.

“I am running to be a good steward of our taxpayer dollars,” she said. “Taxpayers deserve to have confidence that their tax dollars are being used properly and not being wasted and misappropriated. Delco deserves a Controller who will be an independent voice for all the citizens, protect our limited resources and hold government accountable.”

She said she’d like to work with the agencies to find greater efficiencies and save taxpayers money.

In that role, Phillips said she’s like to inform the public what the controller actually does by making reports and audits easily accessible. She’d also create a fraud and abuse line as well as work to eliminate deficiencies in the county systems that could jeopardize the county’s ability to receive grants or other state and federal funds.

Sheriff

Jerry Sanders of Drexel Hill is chaplain of the Deer Meadows retirement community and he is seeking the sheriff post.

Prior to his ministerial role, Sanders had served for 24 years as deputy sheriff in the Philadelphia Sheriff’s office, where he rose from deputy sheriff to sergeant to lieutenant to captain and then chief inspector. There, he oversaw the operations of the sheriff’s civil and criminal divisions, including real estate, sheriff sales, civil enforcement, warrants, criminal court, traffic court and family court.

He has a Master’s degree in organizational development from St. Joseph’s University and is also an associate minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church, where he serves on the board of directors for the church’s Community Development Corp.

Sanders also serves as president of the Advisory Council of Friendship Circle Senior Center in Darby.

He is married to Juanita, who is active with the Democratic Women’s Club of Delaware County.

“As a minister, I believe that I shouldn’t bury my talents and I have an obligation to serve,” Sanders said. “I have over 20 years command experience with the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Department nad I want to use this experience in the Delaware County Sheriff’s office.”

He said through his experience, he’s learned what works and what doesn’t.

In addition, Sanders said he’d like to put a human face on the functions of the office.

“In particular, I want to reform the way we approach sheriff’s sales,” he said. “Seniors, when they are enjoying the fruits of long labor, are too often caught up in situations where they could lose their home because of taxes.”

He said he’d like to mitigate these situations as best as the office would allow.

“Scripture says the poor will always be with us, but that doesn’t relieve us of our responsibility to do everything we can to keep people in their homes,” he said.